Cushion-heel for shoes.



W. M. SCHOLL.

CUSHION HEEL FOR SHOES.

APPLlcATmN FILED MAY10.1916.

Patented Get. 24, 1916.

till

CUSHION-HEEL FOR SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ct. 2a, IQI.

Application filed May 10, 1916. Serial No. 96,-74.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. SoHo-LL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cushion-Heels for Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in cushion heels for shoes, that is to say, to a cushion heel-unit intended for application to any shoe in lieu of the lower lifts of the ordinary leather heel. v

A cushion heel, which is usuallyv of rubber with or without friction-spots or inserts of non-rubber materials, has many advantages to the wearer, but its yielding quality has some tendency to augment certain foot troubles by allowing the weight of the wearer to be wrongly applied to the foot, and especially by allowing the foot to turn or rotate inwardly. Also it lessens the {irmness of the shoe-heel as a foundation for an arch support of the metallic type, such as is often worn by persons having a tendency to flat-foot and other foot ailments.

By my invention I provide a cushion heel unit advantageously stiffened or made relatively non-elastic (as compared with the resiliency of the major portion ofthe heel unit) in a certain area where, I find, relative inelasticity is preventive of the ill effects of all-resilient heel units.

In my heel structure, therefore, I greatly stiffen a relatively small area local to the front, inner portion of the unit and an object of my present invention is to provide means to attainment of this end that will be simple, cheap, easily manufactured and advantageous in use; maintaining the capability for fashioning the heel unit to present an all-rubber surface or other non-metallic friction surface, as desired, for contactwith the ground, but extending the relatively rigid or inelastic characteristics of a solid leather heel through the major portion of thc depth of the rubber heel unit at the selected localized area aforesaid.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a rubber heel con structed in accordance with my invention; Fig. Qyis a section on line 2*-2 of Fig. 1. lFig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section showing the application of the heel, and; Fig. 5' is a pe'pectiif'e detail of a stiffening bridge or ta e.

In the embodiment of my invention the cushion-heel unit 10 may in plan view be of any desired contour and size, of usual thickness aplnoximating that of several leather lifts, and may throughout the general area of its body be of any desired construction (shown typically as all-rubber) to give effectively a relatively-great elasticity. This body is provided, in a selected area at the forward inner portion thereof, with a metallic stiifening bridge or table-14, embedded in and positioned by the rubber body and extending from (or from closely adjacent to,) the upper surface of the rubber body to a plane suitably-closely adjacent to the lower surface of the rubber body.

Suitable provision may be made for attachment of the rubber body to the leather portion of the shoe heel, as by the arrangement of nail holes 11, encompassed by suitable washers embedded in the rubber, shown at 12, but it will be understood that I do not limit my invention in such particulars for the general construction of the relatively-resilient heel-limit body, and the means of applying it to the shoe, may be widely varied without departure from the spirit of my invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

The forward inner area of the rubber heelunit has embedded therein a metallic end.

bearing bridge or table 14, preferably substantially U-formed as shown in Fig. 5, comprising substantially vertical legs lf3-l5 and a bottom connecting platform i6. I prefer that the table be narrow relative to its length, and be located lengthwise of the heel-unit, wholly within the forward inner quarter of the plan area of the unit. The square cut ends of the legs 15 preferably lie flush with the upper surface of the rubber body, and the connecting plate 16 preferably lies parallel with the plane of said surface, somewhat above the lower surface of the rubber, thc body, so that between said plate and the ground there may be interposed a thin layer 1'? of rubber. The legs and plate of the table-construction are preferably apertured, as at 19, so that, when molded in the rubber, the rubber may key through the apertures, as shown at 20, in Fig. 3, and the table is preferably made somewhat springy, so that its plate 16 may yield somewhat walking, to tend to roll outwardly,

without takin a permanent bend. When the heel unit 1s secured -in position on the shoe, as shown in Fig. 4, manifestly the metal bridge, embedded in and positioned by the rubber, effectively extends the stiffness of the leather heel through the selected area of the rubber unit almost level, and yet the wearing surface of the rubber heel unit is not interrupted by the metal, but may be rovided by the solid rubber as shown or ot 1er material of ood friction qualities. It will be appreciated that in walking the maximum wear on the rubber heel does not fall upon the forward inner portion thereof, and therefore the 1netallic brace may be extended quite close to the bottom surface of the heel unit, without danger of wearing through.

Not only does the brace as heretofore described enable arch supports or other appliances within the shoe that find partial support at the heel of the shoe to be worn with greater efficacy, but, for any person having normal feet the stiifening of the forward inner portion of the heel to a materially greater extent than the rearward and the outer portions of the heel unit, causes the heel unit, under the compression due to so giving the wearer a slight but beneficial tendency to rotate his foot outwardly, thereby to throw his weight on the low-arched outer metatarsals and so'as to have the least tendency to break down the lon itudinal arch of the instep. lTo enhance t is rolling or rotating effect I prefer to construct the heel with a slight thickening at its forward inner corner, as shown at 10, tapering gradually, both toward the rear and the outer side of the `heel to the general plane of the heel bottom, as indicated at 10b.

While I have herein described in some detail a particularembodiment of my invention, for purposesof full disclosure, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that I do not desire to be understood as lim- -iting myself to the details shown and deto the general scribed in the broader aspects of my invention without departure from the spirit of my invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A cushion heel comprising a rubber body relatively greatly elastic throughout its area and provided at a selected area local to the forward inner portion of the heel with a metallic bridge embedded in thcl heel and decreasing the elasticity of such area to materially less than that of the surrounding areas, said bridge having upwardly projecting ends extending to substantially the topmost level of the heel structure.

2. A cushion heel. body of the character described having embedded therein an elasticity-reducing bridge comprising a lneta-llic platform having upwardly extending ends, said ends extending to substantially the topmost level of the heel structure and the platform lying substantially parallel with said top surface and above the bottom surface of the body.

3. A cushion heel structure comprising a suitable body of relatively great general elasticity having embedded therein adjacent its forward inner corner a. metallic bridge, comprising a striphaving upturned ends, said bridge lying lengthwise of the heel with its ends substantially in the plane of the heel top and its platform substantially paralleling said top above the heel bottom.

4. In a cushion heel a body of relatively great elasticity and a. bridge having an apertured platform and legs, embedded in the body with its leg-ends upward and its platform near the under surface of the body.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM M. SCHOLL.

In the presence of- Fos'raa BnANsoN, D. W. LANDON. 

